"The Enemy of The People" by Henrik Ibsen

Abstract

The essay will look at the various main characters and their outstanding contribution to the content of the play ‘The Enemy Of The People’. In the first paragraph being the brief content of the play and the main theme which drives the play to the end and an outline of the main characters. The body will include the contribution of the various characters to the production content of the play, how the play will frame discussion of an issue (either by repeating various story elements, by using common metaphors and others), how the main characters are being quoted and their role in the society(are they mainly advocates, policy makers, academic experts and others), how often the main characters are quoted and in what context, how the play tend to tell develop a certain theme while ignoring another. From this findings , the essay will draw a conclusion.

The primary issue in the play “An Enemy Of The People” is the misuse of power in order to maintain the status quo of the town to benefit the rich minority while hurting the easily duped majority. Dr Stockman’s findings that Morten Kiil’s tannery is contaminating the town’s springs is valid. But it is not received well by the mayor of the town who argues that when the proper measures to correct the problem are undertaken, the town will turn bankrupt, the mayor goes ahead to mislead the ailing majority that by ignoring the issue of health status and opting to tackle the issue of the springs promising a great future for everyone.

The main characters in this play are Dr stockman the resident physician of a coastal Norweigan town. Enjoying financial success for the first time in his life, Stockmann is an energized, driven man, married, with three children and a close-knit circle of friends. After discovering that the town’s waters are contaminated and causing illness amongst the patients and the local residents, he contacts the mayor to inform him of the necessity of gutting the town’s plumbing and re-laying the pipes in a more sanitary way. He is confident the mayor will respond quickly to his suggestions and he will be viewed as a hero by his neighbors. Peter stockman is the mayor of the town and a brother to Doctor Stockmann, the mayor, however, balks at Thomas suggestion of changing the town’s plumbing, which would halt the visitors to the springs and leave the town destitute. Confident the matter will resolve itself quickly, he informs Thomas that if he publicizes his findings about the water, he will lose his job (Ibsen,2016).

Analyzing Elements

In A Production Truth Versus Moral Degradation Dr Stockmann is used in this play to represent what is true and just for the town. He realizes that the springs are contaminated by the tannery above, the laboratory results are positive. He is used to drive the theme of justice by fighting for the majority. He does not hesitate to inform the concerned authorities of the measures to take in order to save the town in the long run. He vows to report on the findings to the public to warn them of using water from the springs.

Peter Stockman is a representation of moral degradation. He assumes that the contaminated springs will correct themselves and that the public need not be informed of the contamination. This is a similar scenario to the media analysis entitled “Between A Rock and a Hard Place An Analysis of Low Wage Workers” it was a crucial first step in building a communications strategy to enhance the visibility of low-wage workers and the obstacles they face in pursuing the so called American dream. Based on the findings of the media analysis, the suggested strategy for advocates was to reframe their messages to portray low-wage workers as important contributors to the economy, rather than as sympathetic victims. (Wingate,2016). Peter stockmann does not think that the public are an important stakeholders who have the right to know the status of their town.

Fight between the civilised minority and the government

Dr Stockmann is used to represent the civilised majority who are well versed with their rights and who know the right decision to carry out in the midst of a crisis. He is completely contrasted with the other members of the town who seem not to understand what really is happening and that there is a life threatening issue that they seem to ignore because of lack of information and being mislead by politicians like Peter Stockmann. The end of this play shows how the politicians use their power to turn the public against the achievement of a highly civilized individuals and cause lack of development in the nations (Brodow,2016)

Conclusion

From this we can draw conclusions that the society (comprised of the government, the public and the minority group of civlised citizens) should work in harmony with each other in order to bring out the best from the environment and lead to a win- win situation for all parties.

References:

Brodow, E. (2016). In lies we trust: How politicians and the media are deceiving the american public.

Ibsen, H. (2016). An Enemy of the People

Wingate, M., & 3M Company. (2016). Between a Rock and a Hard Place. S.l.: Tantor Audio

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